My Secret
by Alleonh
Summary: I have a secret. I will tell you if you promise not to tell anyone...not to tell him...
1. Default Chapter

Hi! This is my first ever fic that I have posted, so please, be gentle. That being said, PLEASE REVIEW. Actually, forget what I said about being gentle, review anyway. If it sucks, tell me. If it's good though, I will continue it. You decide.

I'm REALLY sorry, but I have really only seen the American version of Yu-Gi-Oh, so that is really all I have to go on. I am reading Shonen Jump as fast as they are released, but Bakura hasn't even entered yet. I really don't know how he got the ring. The show said from his father, but I have heard so much about how inaccurate the dub is, that now I'm not so sure. Anyone that has seen the show, please tell me if there are any really big differences in the show about Ryou and the spirit of the ring. I would really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: I don't own it. I think you misunderstand the concept of FANFICTION. If I owned it, it wouldn't be a fanfic, now would it? I don't own the song either, Linkin Park does.

__

_I will never know_

_Myself until I do this on my own_

_And I will never feel_

_Anything else until my wounds are healed_

_I will never be_

_Anything 'til I break away from me_

_And I will break away_

_I'll find myself today_

_Linkin Park: Meteora_

Are spirits immortal? Can they ever die, or will they remain until the end of time, long after you and I have ceased to exist. I don't know the correct answer, but I hope it is yes. I hope that a spirit can die. I hope that it can blink out of existence and never, ever come back.

I have a secret. I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Not to tell my friends, because they probably wouldn't believe me. Not to tell _him, _because he would try to stop me.

And he would succeed too. Please realize that I'm not writhing in self-pity. There was a time for pity, now it is over. I am past the point of pity. I am just stating an obvious fact.

He is stronger than me. He always has been, ever since my father gave me that cursed ring and I slipped the thin leather rope around my neck. In that single moment, I felt him. Inside my mind, trying to take over. Little by little, he has succeeded. There have been moments when I would lose control for a second. That is all the time he has needed. Then, I am gone, and only he exists. I can never escape.

But here is my secret, I tell you now in confidence,

I can kill a spirit.

Saige: So? What do you think? I know it's short, but I have a theory, maybe if I keep the chapters really short, then I'll actually finish a story!

Ahem…now, go and review. If you don't I'll…um…(looks around searchingly)…I'll kill Yami! Yeah, that's it. Kill him dead.

Yami: I'm a spirit remember, I can't die. So I don't think that your threat is very effective.

Saige: Didn't you read the story? I have the power Mwahahahaha!!!

Yami: I don't believe you.

Saige: Well then…I'll…break the puzzle!

Yami: Then Yugi would put it back together. I'm getting bored with you.

Saige: He couldn't put it back together if I split the pieces up and sent them to other sides of the globe Mr. Smarty Pants.

Yami: He would eventually find the pieces, and reassemble the puzzle. You know what, you suck. I'm going to go visit someone else's fic. Turns to leave

Saige: No wait! I have a good threat then. I'll send the pieces to the other side of the globe, then, so the puzzle will never be put back together, I'll kill Yugi!

Yugi: OO!!!

Saige: Oh no Yugi!!! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!!! I would never. Do you see what you made me do?! Bad Yami, Bad! Bad!

Yami: Oh boy. rubs headache. Please review so that she will shut up.


	2. My Secret Ch 2

Hi guys, here's chapter 2!

A/N I used the American names for the people and the cards, I'm just used to them.

Also, I don't personally play the Yu-Gi-Oh card game, but I know a little about it. The card I mentioned is made up for my own delightfully evil purposes (mini mwahahah). I have no idea if the name actually exists as a card, or if there is a card that has the same effects. If there is, someone please let me know.

For identification purposes, the hikari is Ryou and the yami is Bakura.

Disclaimer: I don't own it. And do you know what? I don't want to own it! There!!! Takahashi, you can keep your little Yu-Gi-Oh, cause I don't want it!

Yami: You're a bad liar.

Saige: If it meant I had put up with you all the time, then it may not be a lie.

Yami: …

/ hikari to yami/

_yami to hikari_

I kept my mental block up while I planned my…attack? Was it really an attack? Could it be called such a violent thing? I wouldn't want to attack anyone. Is this really such a good idea? No. I shook my head to clear the thought from my mind. This would not be an attack.

This was retribution.

Still, I kept my mental barrier safely in place while I planned. Although Yugi had taught me how to erect such a barrier, I always felt like Bakura could force it down if he wanted to. I really don't think that I am strong enough to even protect my inner thoughts. However, I felt safe that he did not hear what was going on in my mind. Bakura had accepted that I closed our mental link for my own purposes and privacy. Not that he respected me, or anything like that. I just don't think he cared.

Still, I felt a little nervous. And emotions would travel to him flawlessly, regardless of if there was a link or not and no matter how hard I tried to block it. If Bakura got suspicious, then he may take over my body and never give it back. Just to be on the safe side, I opened the link to see if anything was amiss.

Immediately, he became aware of me.

_What's wrong?_ he snapped.

_/Nothing/_ I tried to be brief with my answers. Surely he was used to that. I had never been "chatty", and he never really wanted to hear from me anyway, so what was the difference. Still, I almost mentally winced at how tight my voice sounded.

He would notice.

Bakura was quiet a moment, then spoke again_. You're lying. You're nervous, and your weak emotions are disturbing me. It's annoying. Tell me what it is, then calm down._

_/ It's nothing/_ I insisted _/I just…have a history test tomorrow. It's a really important grade, and I don't think I'm ready for it...That's all./ _I'm a really bad liar, always have been. It's just not something I've ever been able to do. I know that if he had been looking me in the eye, Bakura would have seen right through to my thinly veiled secret. He, by the way, is a great liar.

As it was, I could almost feel the smirk that I knew was on his face.

_Then, you better go study. _came his only mocking reply before he closed his link on me. Dismissed me. Ignored me.

Completely and totally alone, I breathed a sigh of relief and opened my eyes. I had been laying on my bed, staring at my ceiling as I got lost in thought. Now I scanned my room as I sat up.

It was neat, as was probably expected of me. I liked things organized, especially my room. It was mine. Bakura cared little about it, so he pretty much left it alone. And so, I did my best to keep my little space in the world organized. Controlled.

That was what it was really about. Nobody, save a few, have any idea what it is like to be in a position where you lose control of your body. It is a curse beyond imagining, losing what is supposed to be yours and only yours. I think that keeping my room under such tight and almost freakish organization is my way of having control in a life that is no longer only mine. That's ironic, isn't it? A teenager_ wanting _a clean room.

I stood up, rubbing my neck as I walked over to the dresser. The top was mostly bare, save for a few items. Leaned up against the mirror was a single picture. It had been taken at a mall, in one of those picture booths. I couldn't help the smile that crept across my face at the memory. The pictured was of Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Tea and I, all crammed into the booth at once. It had been Yugi's idea. And though it seemed completely impossible, we had all fit. Everyone had big, goofy grins on their faces, half because of the triumph we felt for succeeding, half because of the sheer hilarity of it all. It had been a fun day.

My smile faded as my eyes focused on the picture. Though it wasn't really noticeable, the picture was ripped in half, right down the middle. After I had gotten home that night, Bakura took over. It angers him that I am friends with the hikari of his enemy. So he ripped the picture in half while I was pleading with him not to. He did it anyway, and with great joy. My sadness turned into a fiery rage, and before I knew it, I was back in control. That was one of the few times that I have ever fought back and even fewer, the times I have won. My anger gave me the strength to force my way back into control. I then put the picture carefully back together, so that the seam would not show.

Bakura had allowed it. He said he was even proud of me, that my forcefulness showed that we weren't really that different after all. I told him that if he ever said anything like that again, I would throw myself off of a cliff and end both of out miserable existences. I never expect, or want, that kind of complement from the spirit of my millennium ring. I think he took that to heart too, one of the few times that he has ever done so with anything I have ever said. And so the picture has remained untouched for over a year.

I opened the top drawer of the dresser and carefully pulled out a cloth bundle. I slowly unwrapped the bundle, revealing a single card. A Duel Monsters card to be more exact. It's a cool game, all the rage with kids these days. But I have to wonder at how the popularity would go if they knew about half of the things I have seen involving this simple game.

Across the top was emblazoned the words "Soul's Rest"; at the bottom, a single line that read "A wayward soul must heed the call of Eternity". It was a magic card, that much I was sure of, and a really rare one, for I had never heard of it before. I had a rudimentary understanding of how it worked too. It freed souls to their eternal rest. It had an effect similar to Raigeki in that it instantly sent all the opposing monsters to the graveyard. Only this time, they can not be brought back by Monster Reborn or Call of the Haunted. That wouldn't be enough help me alone, but soon, it would be all I needed.

This card would be useless to me in a normal game, but if this card could be played in the Shadow Realm, then the effects would be real on the victim. If the card worked as it should, then the spirit of any card on the field should be dragged to oblivion. But what of the player? Normally, the soul is tied to its body with bonds that can only be broken by death. But what if the player was already dead, a spirit? Could it drag the player along with the monsters on the field? It could. I knew it could, the one who had given it to me had said as much.

My plan was flawless. It would be no trouble convincing Bakura to have a shadow game, especially if he had the right incentive. Like a certain Millennium Puzzle. It was too simple and good to be true. I would challenge Yugi to a friendly game. Bakura would never be able to resist an opportunity to steal the puzzle, and so he would definitely take control. At that point, the shadow game would begin. Bakura's strategy is so predictable. You can pretty much sum it up as "drag everyone in sight to the shadow realm; if you need something from them, fine, if you don't, that's fine too." Little did he know that his role in my plan was integral to his own death. Anyway, I would somehow slip the card into Yugi's deck. Once the game turned ugly, there was no doubt that Yami, the spirit of the Millenium Puzzle would take over for Yugi. He would question how the card got into the deck, but the Game King would not hesitate to use such a beneficial card.

Then it would all be over.

Bakura's spirit would be set free.

And so would I.

Saige: So? What do you guys think? I know I said that I was going to keep the chapters really small, but oh well.

Yami: Why do I have to be a pawn in your stupid little story?

Saige: Because your gullible and a power hungry control freak, I knew you would use the card.

Yami: Yeah…well…it's a good card.

Saige: Yeah, yeah. And knowledge is power. You're a real philosopher Yami.

Yami: Shut-up.

Saige: Please Review!!!


	3. My Secret Ch 3

Hi guys! Here's chapter 3.

A/N: Okay, I know that you're not supposed to be able to see the spirits outside of their millennium items, but I have read plenty of fics that have them in a spirit form that can be seen by everyone, so that's how it is here. They can't touch anything, all they pretty much do is sit there and glare.

Disclaimer for my disclaimer: Yes, I have a disclaimer for my disclaimer. I know that everyone has read this disclaimer. I have plenty of times. I read it from one guy who said he stole it from another guy who probably stole it from someone else. And the vicious cycle continues. But, I will give due to whoever did create it first. It's cute, I loved it, and so I used it.

Disclaimer (the real one, I promise): Ahem… "Roses are red, violets are blue. I no own, so you no sue." I love that. It is so cute!!!

Yami: Did you know that you are a complete moron?

Saige: Did you know that gold has a melting point of 1064ºC? So just remember, it wouldn't take that much effort to turn the puzzle into a millennium bracelet and matching pair of earrings.

Yami: …Gulp…uh, why don't we just get to the story?

Saige: That's better.

I have never been strong. No, let me rephrase that. Everyone has their strengths, including me. What I do not have however, is a very strong resolve. I tend to waiver in my decisions. It's one of the many things that I do not like about myself. But I don't understand how people can just barrel into their decisions head on, with out considering them from every angle. That's what I do, and most of the time, regardless of what the decision is about, I change my mind half a dozen times before finally, but not wholeheartedly, I decide.

This time was no different. I'm not God; I don't have the right to make the choice about who lives and who dies. What gave me the right to end Bakura's existence, no matter how much I wanted to? How could I? Of all the people in the world, I have the ring. It could just have easily ended up with someone else, yet I am the one who has it. Was it destiny? I don't know. And if it was, what right did I have to screw with some kind of cosmic balance?

I do know one thing for certain though, I can't, no; I won't live like this forever.

What are you babbling about?

I tensed and stopped dead in my tracks as the voice echoed through my mind. He heard me. I cursed my stupidity. I had come all of this way, my plans all laid out, only to be discovered when I was this close to the end. But I closed the link, didn't I? I know I did.

_I won't live like this._ Bakura mocked my words with a chuckle. You foolish mortals. Always worried about life. Guess what? The essence of life is change. Get used to it and stop whining about what you cannot help. If you do not like the hand that you have been dealt, then just wait. Life will change. It always does.His tone sounded wistful and whimsical all at once. I could tell that he was probably thinking about something else as he spoke. Perhaps something from his shaded past?

At least he wasn't on to me. Bakura had only caught the tail end of my thoughts, and had mistaken my meaning. I began walking again, and now I could see the game shop that Yugi and his grandfather lived at in the distance.

Bakura's words stayed with me. He had almost sounded… pensive? Maybe that was stretching it a little, but Bakura had never said anything like that to me. I steeled my self and asked him about it.

/What did you mean?/

Huh?

/What you said…about life. What did you mean?/

Nothing.He said in a biting tone. You were babbling, so I thought I would join the party. Now, could you hurry up? Why are you dragging your feet? I want to get this over with.

Ah, that was more like the spirit I knew. And here I was starting to feel bad about what I was about to do. Yes Bakura, the essence of life is change. And you're about to have the change of your life.

I've come to the conclusion that Yugi Motou has the biggest smile of any single person alive. And I think that it grows every time I see him. The last time I had seen his was just this afternoon, at school. Yet, as he opened the door to greet me, there the smile was. Like I was some long lost relative that he had not seen for years and years. I guess he appreciates all of his friends.

I greeted him in kind as I walked past him and into his living room. There, the "gang" was waiting on me. Joey and Tristan were busy in a Duel Monsters game. Although Joey's skills had far surpassed Tristan's, they still played. And Joey never passed up an opportunity to remind his best friend of his superior abilities. Joey could be really conceited sometimes. It had cost him many duels in the past and no doubt would continue to do so well into the future. Tea was absent, but I figured that she was probably in the kitchen retrieving snacks for the seemingly bottomless pits that were Joey, Tristan and Yugi's stomachs. I guess that was the curse of someone that was best friends with a bunch of guys. Endless snack vending duties.

Yugi's grandfather was out of the country at the moment, away at some gaming convention. It was only because of that that we were able to hang out on a school night.

There was one more party member that I was missing. Oh wait, there he was. As I scanned the room, I almost missed the faded, translucent figure leaning with his arms crossed in front of him against the far wall of the room. Yami was calmly, yet openly watching me from his vantage point. I looked at him briefly, and he nodded his greeting to me. Then, I averted my eyes from his piercing, crimson gaze. Yami had a way of looking into your eyes and straight down to your soul. Or maybe that was just with me. He was well aware with Bakura's ambitions, and while he harbored no ill will against me personally, the former pharaoh always kept a close watch on where I was at all times. And he was never really discreet with his scrutiny. When I had first become aware of him, it had really unnerved me. But I wholly understood his motives, so I was getting used to it. Of course, if all went as it should, then neither of us would have to worry ever again.

"Hey Ryou, You're late," Joey greeted me.

"Sorry," I replied with a smile, "I had some errands to run before I came over."

"There's no need to apologize," Tea said as she entered from the kitchen, struggling with the tray of snacks that she was carrying. "Joey has no room to talk, he just arrived about five minutes ago." She laid the tray on the coffee table, and the boys abandoned their game to attack the food.

"No fair Tea!" Joey said between mouthfuls, "I told you not to tell."

Tea rolled her eyes at him before retreating to her chair with her snack and sitting down.

"Come on Joey," Tristan said, "Get your mind back on the duel. I want to beat you and get it over with."

"I play the winner," Yugi stated.

"Well you may be waiting a while," Tristan said sarcastically, "This idiot won't move already."

"Hey!" Joey shot back, "You can't rush genius."

"Then I'm lucky, because that's counts you out."

As the two boys locked in their verbal fight, I saw my opening. "It looks like they may take a while Yugi," I said, "If you want, I'll play against you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yami take a quick step away from the wall. Yugi glanced at him, and I waited in silence as they conversed.

Yugi turned back to me and smiled, "Sure Ryou," He said, "Let me just go up stairs and get my deck." With that, he ran up the stairs. I turned to watch Joey and Tristan. That duel game was going no where fast.

You're becoming more useful than I thought.

/What's that supposed to mean?/ I asked, knowing exactly what Bakura meant.

Why don't you just gift wrap the puzzle for me?

/Stay out of this. Can't I have a friendly card game with my friend without you butting in?/

Are you demanding that I don't use this opportunity to get the puzzle?He challenged. He knew I didn't _demand _anything, especially from him.

/Yes, I am, so back off./

Certainly, _master_.If sarcasm were a liquid that actually could drip, then I would probably be drowning in it. But the result was as I knew it would be. My defiance would insure that Bakura would try even harder to interrupt the game. Perfect. Phase one complete.

Now to slip the card into Yugi's deck. That may prove to be more difficult. But if this was fate, then the opportunity would present itself. I slipped my hand into my pocket. My fingers brushed up against the card, assuring me that it was still there. But how to do it? If I didn't get the card into his deck fast, then my plan would fail.

I heard Yugi's footsteps on the stair case and turned. He was racing down the stairs, his deck in hand. He hopped down the final three steps in one leap.

My, he sure is enthusiastic to lose.

/Didn't I tell you to butt out?/

Yes, you did.

Yes Bakura, just continue to be as smug and sure as you always are. That will make this that much easier.

Just then, opportunity presented itself more clearly than I could ever have wished. Joey, always the prankster, put his foot out as Yugi passed. Yugi stumbled over it, causing Joey and Tristan to burst into laughter. Yugi did not fall, but in surprise, his deck flew from his hand and across the room. The cards fell to the floor like leaves in the Fall, a shower of brown and black.

I almost laughed myself, just because of the sheer hilarity of it all. Quickly, I moved t help the teen collect all of his cards. Unnoticed by the others, and even by Bakura, I slipped the card out of my pocket and mixed it with the ones I had picked up. I handed them to Yugi, who accepted them gratefully.

"Thanks a lot Joey!" Yugi said glaring at Joey.

"Sorry Yuge," Joey said, fighting to keep from laughing, "But you should have seen your face. It was priceless."

"Grow up Joey!" Tea exclaimed throwing a potato chip at him.

"I said I was sorry!"

"Yugi, are you ready?" I inquired.

He sighed, "Yeah, just let me check to see if I'm missing any."

Uh-oh.

"Um…wait," I stammered as he flipped the cards over to thumb through them.

"Why?" He asked.

"Uh… well,… if you're missing a card or two, then I might actually have a chance at winning a game." I smiled and tried to sound joking, "Maybe if I'm lucky, your Dark Magician is not there." He looked very unconvinced, so I tried to look pathetic, "Please? Then we'll check your deck and I'll help you find any that are missing. Okay?"

"Okay," Yugi said hesitantly, "But nobody step on any. Okay Joey?"

"What?" Joey said defensively, "Why don't you yell at Tristan, he has bigger feet than I do."

"Yeah, and a bigger brain too." Tristan shot back.

"Oh har-har."

I got out my own deck as Yugi and I moved to the coffee table and knelt across from each other. After clearing ourselves some space, we each shuffled our decks and drew our cards. Then, the game began.

Saige: dum-dum-dum!!!

Yami: You got that right.

Saige: That's it, Buddy! Next stop, Earrings!!! begins chasing Yami ranting about jewelry.

Yugi: Please review!


End file.
